The power of ridiculous

How much of that metaphor is the public going to pick up on? It probably doesn’t matter.

“It’s so bizarre and so off the wall compared to the other advertisers [in Times Square],” said Allen Adamson, managing partner of brand and marketing consultancy Metaforce. “If they had just put the cup of soup there with ‘Now Microwavable,’ it would be instantly forgettable. But a bizarre little guy running around inside a microwave is so ridiculous that people are going to look up. They’re going to remember that.”

It’s a paradox of this neighborhood famed for advertising that so many brands determined to stand out end up blurring together instead. The brand that punches through needs a gimmick to do it. Cup Noodles is continuing a Times Square tradition of performing billboards—“spectaculars,” as they were called.

From 1941 to 1967, for example, Camel’s placard at 44th Street featured a raffish pilot who blew out smoke rings over Broadway. (The “smoke” was steam pumped through a piston-driven diaphragm.) A similar signboard for Super Suds detergent churned 3,000 soap bubbles into the air every minute.

Cup Noodles itself was part of this trend from 1996 to 2006 when it bolted a mammoth soup cup high up on the Times Tower where swirling clouds of steam spilled from the rim. Historically, Stanton observed, Cup Noodles’ dancing Cup Person billboard “represents our return to the culture.”

Hot, quick and surprisingly cheap

There’s one other market force contributing to the likelihood that Cup Person will win his share of looks from the 225,000 people traipsing through the neighborhood daily: Ramen is enjoying a boom right now.

According to the World Instant Noodles Association, global consumption has climbed from 4.5 billion servings in 2018 to 5.1 billion in 2022. With a 42% market share, Nissin USA is the leading domestic brand in the category, notching a 28% sales increase from 2022 to 2023.

With wages stagnating and a 1.77-ounce container retailing for $3.99, Cup Noodles’ surging popularity isn’t exactly surprising. “It’s a value—affordable and approachable,” Huff said. “It’s convenient, and it’s a meal.”

And, for the next few weeks, it’s also staging one of the more unusual billboards in New York.